Moscow - Saba:
A recent study has revealed the effect of intermittent fasting on activating platelets, which may contribute to improving cardiovascular health.
According to the Russia Today website, cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are responsible for more than 20 million deaths annually, most of which result from heart attacks or strokes due to blocked arteries.
The main risk factors for these diseases include atherosclerosis, high blood cholesterol levels, and high glucose levels.
All of these factors increase platelet aggregation, which increases the risk of arterial thrombosis and heart disease. Despite the prevalence of antiplatelet drugs, many patients who take these drugs still suffer from heart attacks caused by coronary vascular thrombosis.
Studies indicate that following certain dietary patterns, such as intermittent fasting, can reduce the risk of heart disease. Intermittent fasting involves reducing energy consumption by 60% for two days a week or on alternate days.
Research has shown that intermittent fasting improves heart health by lowering blood pressure, cholesterol, and insulin resistance.
The current study included patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) who were taking aspirin, who were randomly divided into two groups: an intermittent fasting group and a free-feeding group.
The researchers asked the intermittent fasting group to fast every other day and eat freely on the other days. Platelets were isolated from blood samples collected before and after the 10-day experiment.
The experiments were also conducted on mice carrying the apolipoprotein E (ApoE) gene, which were divided into two groups: a free-feeding group and intermittent fasting.
The researchers found that intermittent fasting reduced platelet activation and clot formation in both humans and mice.
Spectroscopic analyses of gut bacteria showed higher levels of the compounds orotate and 3-indolepropionic acid, or IPA, in the intermittent fasting group.
Experiments have shown that IPA inhibits platelet activation and reduces the time to thrombin formation (a protein with strong clotting activity), which is equivalent to the effectiveness of the anticoagulant drug clopidogrel.
It has also been observed that intermittent fasting increased levels of Clostridium sporogenes bacteria in the intestine, which is the bacteria responsible for producing IPA.
Mice treated with this bacteria showed higher levels of IPA in the digestive tract, plasma, and platelets, which led to a decrease in platelet aggregation and a slower formation of clots.
IPA binds to the pregnen X receptor (PXR) in platelets (a nuclear receptor whose primary function is to sense the presence of foreign toxic substances and in response regulate the expression of proteins involved in detoxification and excretion of these substances from the body), which inhibits platelet activation pathways, such as the Src/Lyn/Syk pathway that prevents clot formation.
Experiments have confirmed that blocking these pathways leads to an increase in platelet aggregation, which supports the role of IPA in inhibiting platelet activation.
The study results indicate that intermittent fasting may reduce platelet activation and clot formation in the arteries, which promotes cardiovascular health by changing intestinal bacteria and increasing blood IPA levels. However, further clinical studies are needed to confirm these results and explore the possibility of using intermittent fasting as a treatment for patients with coronary atherosclerosis.
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